What is a reasonable rate?

[Pcosta]

What is a reasonable rate per hour for at home detailing?
How many hours for a wash? What about washing and waxing?
I want to be fair, but I 've seen a wide variety of prices in the last 12 months (3 different detailers) and I feel that I need some help in assessing what is fair.
PCosta

[WilliamHBonney]

You have to give us more information. Where do you live? What is your target market? What products are you going to use?

I know I am happy when I get $300 a detail but I talked to a person here last night who will re-main nameless who is pulling in $700+ per detail.

[97BlackSS]

this true, best bet is to look in the phone book and call the other detailing companies and get their prices/products and go from there. Also remember the more you do for the customer while your there will better your odds for a repeat customer. So if it takes you a extra hour to buff out the headlights on a full detail but you know it would make the customer happy-do it! good luck

[mirrorfinishman]

You will find the average industry standard hourly rate for most professional mobile detailing businesses is somewhere between $40 to $60 per hour. Of course, as your own expenses go up, so should your hourly rate. On the other hand, a low budget operation would need to make less per hour.

The other part of the equation which has already been mentioned is identifying your target market. Go after the high end professional type of person and you will be able to charge more per hour. Of course, you will need to be able to deliver a top notch high quality job in order to satisfy that type of client.

[David Fermani]

Originally Posted by mirrorfinishman

You will find the average industry standard hourly rate for most professional mobile detailing businesses is somewhere between $40 to $60 per hour. Of course, as your own expenses go up, so should your hourly rate. On the other hand, a low budget operation would need to make less per hour.

Where did you get this information?

Your fees shouldn't be contingent on the budget of your operation. Just because someone uses cost-effective products/processes doesn't mean they should charge less. Prices(when comparing apples to apples) should be based on the quality of your end product, not how much cost you incurred to deliver it. If 2 shop's quality is similar, their rates shouldn't be *that much* different if their costs are different.

[calgarydetail]

there are alot of variables you need to consider..

whats your direct and indirect overhead
what are you costs, both fixed and variable
whats the market like
how good is your work (the better the more you can charge)
are you just joing the market or creating it. For example are you the only mobile guy in town
and most importantly, how much do you want to make?

[MillenniumAuto]

Some people think that if you charge more you wont make it in this business, There are plenty of hack jobbers in my town that charge $80.00 to $100.00 per detail, I start at 185.00 an dgo up from there,, Customers will not haver problem with that as long as you let the work speak for itself. be aggresive with your markiting strategy and you will find a niche in your area. I started in this business being sub-contractor in dealerships, money was okay sometimes pretty good but the dealers will grind you down as much as possible 70- 80 per recon( yeah right). I am now only doing high end retail, I also have a few fleet acounts, big landscape companis, few construction, canteen trucks, I also justy picked up a 35 truck/ van electrician fleet contract also. this is the only wholesale work persay that i take on these days. Because my retai work is taking up 85% of my time lately I have been averaging 40 to 50 recons per months, my goal is to have at least 60 full recons per month along with addtional work, ie fleet accouonts, P.M.D. (preventive matience details). I try to do these in between full recons.

[AppliedColors]

To establish a permanent detailing business, you'll need to keep this rule of thumb in mind:

Take in a minimum of $75 hourly for a mobile business.
Take in a minimum of $100 hourly for a fixed shop.

Working from home, you could adjust that rule to $60 hourly, but any home based detail shop will eventually encounter licensing, zoning, and neighbor issues, so don't count on your home being a permanent location.

Certainly you'll find that your competition will charge less than $75 - $100 an hour, but their presence (like most detail shops) is temporary. Call them in 12 months and most of the numbers will be dead.

Call any shop that's been in business more than 5 years, and you'll find that they bring in $75 - $100 an hour. It sounds high, but when all overhead costs are considered, it's the only way to stay in business year after year.

[David Fermani]

Originally Posted by AppliedColors

Take in a minimum of $75 hourly for a mobile business.
Take in a minimum of $100 hourly for a fixed shop.

Working from home, you could adjust that rule to $60 hourly
Call any shop that's been in business more than 5 years, and you'll find that they bring in $75 - $100 an hour. It sounds high, but when all overhead costs are considered, it's the only way to stay in business year after year.

Can you name 1 detailer or shop that charges $75 to $100 per hour("minimum") as a guide with their pricing(on a regular basis)? That's the most I've ever seen anyone quote? Seems like the rate that people say they "should" charge keeps going up, but the industry average keeps going down.

So, you suggest that for the average complete detail that takes 8-10 hours to do, a shop "should" charge a minimum of $1000! Let me know what shop is doing this so I can open up one accross the street for 1/2 the price and still make a killing.

[Jimmy Buffit]

Welcome to Autopia

Thanks for your input. It differs from what is commonly tossed around here, but I think you may have a valid point.

Here's a scenario, please feel free to comment:

Fixed location, with all the overhead, including rent, insurance, workman's comp, payroll taxes, advertising, and much more

Three employees (avg $11/hour) , plus working owner.

Six Days/60 Hours per week

Efficient Shop, with most tools and supplies close at hand.

Plenty of vehicles

So, how would you call the hourly/billable rate for that operation?

I honestly seek your opinion, so, if you need more factors for the equation, please ask...

Jim

[AppliedColors]

'

Originally Posted by Jimmy Buffit

Welcome to Autopia\r\n\r\nThanks for your input. It differs from what is commonly tossed around here, but I think you may have a valid point. \r\n\r\nHere\'s a scenario, please feel free to comment:\r\n\r\nFixed location, with all the overhead, including rent, insurance, workman\'s comp, payroll taxes, advertising, and much more\r\n\r\nThree employees (avg $11/hour) , plus working owner.\r\n\r\nSix Days/60 Hours per week\r\n\r\nEfficient Shop, with most tools and supplies close at hand.\r\n\r\nPlenty of vehicles\r\n\r\nSo, how would you call the hourly/billable rate for that operation?\r\n\r\nI honestly seek your opinion, so, if you need more factors for the equation, please ask...\r\n\r\nJim

\r\n\r\nThis scenario looks quite common for an established shop.\r\n\r\nI\'ll stick to $100 billed per hour working in this scenario. This does not include the hours in the day when there\'s no work being done on customer cars: work space set up; lunch; work space clean up. Those could comprise 2-3 hours a day. \r\n\r\nBut if there are 3 detailers working and the work is compartmentalized (prep, interior, exterior, touchup) and the equipment is top notch (pressure washers, towel supply, work carts, retractable cords, good lighting), each car should take 1.5 - 2 hours. Remember that at 2 hours, you have 3 detailers investing a total of 6 man hours...more than enough for a quality detail. \r\n\r\nCharging $200 per car on average and average 2 hours per car, you would exactly earn the targeted $100 per billed hour. If the shop performs actual work for 7 hours a day, daily sales of $700 should be plenty to cover expenses and leave a tidy profit for the owner. \r\n\r\nOf course, one man operations don\'t need $100 hourly, but how many one man operations stay one man operations? The scheduling becomes impossible: if you\'re busy, your customers may have to wait 2 weeks because you can only detail 1-2 cars a day properly.\r\n\r\nAverage shops should always strive to bill their time at $100 an hour. If taking on wholesale work, this means streamlining the process (one step paint correction, less attention to detail on interiors) to hit this target. If retail is failing to reach $100 an hour, add upsales like headlight repair of paint seals to hit the target.'

[Grouse]

Originally Posted by David Fermani

Can you name 1 detailer or shop that charges $75 to $100 per hour("minimum") as a guide with their pricing(on a regular basis)? That's the most I've ever seen anyone quote? Seems like the rate that people say they "should" charge keeps going up, but the industry average keeps going down.

So, you suggest that for the average complete detail that takes 8-10 hours to do, a shop "should" charge a minimum of $1000! Let me know what shop is doing this so I can open up one accross the street for 1/2 the price and still make a killing.

lol i can't think of one but hell why not just open the 1000 dollar shop with me... I'll do the mobile you to the inhouse ....:P